An International Business Plan
. Due to the increased costs of manufacturing in Australia, Blundstone has recently been forced to move manufacturing overseas, namely to India and Thailand. While there was a lot of initial backlash to this decision, the company considers the move to have been an overall success. Over the past few years, a few of Blundstone’s global competitors have opened manufacturing facilities in Africa. Intrigued by these investments, Blundstone has decided to investigate the possibility of opening their own manufacturing facility in Africa. Currently, the company is only considering the four African nations of Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe. Such a facility would be considered only as a complement to, not a replacement of, Blundstone’s current facilities. Of important note, the facility would not sell any products itself.

You, as the task force of the International Business Department of Blundstone Footwear, are required to choose ONE of these countries and write a report to the Board of Directors. In the report, you need to identify the advantages and disadvantages of operating in that country. Based on your findings, some relevant strategies should be suggested to benefit from the advantages and mitigate the disadvantages. Based on your analysis, the Board of Directors will decide whether to make such an investment. When preparing your report, you are required to link your arguments to the course content and to use relevant data to support your suggestions.